Local police discovered three abandoned children living in a trash-filled condominium with no working toilet while conducting a welfare check over the weekend in southeastern Michigan. Photo by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office
Feb. 18 (UPI) — Police discovered a boy and two girls abandoned by their mother and living in squalor for at least five years in southeastern Michigan while conducting a welfare check during the past weekend.
The boy is 15 and the two girls are ages 13 and 12, and they have been living without parental guidance since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Bouchard said the three youths had been living alone in a condominium that is in a state of squalor since the spring or summer of 2020.
All three are in reasonably good health after undergoing initial medical examinations and are scheduled to undergo more in-depth physical and mental health examinations soon, Bouchard told media.
“Having some tender love, having had some supportive care, having been put in new clothing and some basic hygiene, one detective said that the little girl was talking quite a bit, so that’s super exciting,” Bouchard said.
The three youths are recovering while in the care of a social services organization and their mother is in custody at the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, which is weighing charges against her.
The 34-year-old mother’s name is being withheld to protect the youths’ identities, and Bouchard and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office raised money to help pay for their medical bills and education.
The fundraising was so successful that the sheriff’s office said it does not need more donations and is searching for a law firm to create a trust fund for the three kids.
Their father was in prison when the mother abandoned her children, but he was released. In 2022, he obtained a court order enabling him to visit the youths. The mother refused to let him see them.
Local police discovered the kids living alone over the weekend and said they had been living on bread and occasional food delivered by DoorDash and Instacart.
The mother occasionally dropped off hygiene products and food, but recently gave them a loaf of bread that was supposed to last them for about three days, Bouchard said.
He said gaps in the local school enrollment process caused the kids to go missing without notice.
None of the three have received any schooling since their abandonment, and they stayed indoors watching TV to pass the time, Bouchard said.
“A school district in this case received a request for records from another school in Pontiac, but no verification the children ever moved to that school,” Bouchard told media.
“At some point when they didn’t show up, they were just dropped off the enrollment of the school that sent the transcripts, so no one knew that they were nowhere,” he said.
The oldest only went outside twice, Bouchard said. Once was to check the mail and other time was so he could feel the grass beneath his feet.
He said the condominium in which they were staying did not have a working toilet and the bathtub contained feces.
The home was in a state of squalor and covered in trash when the police discovered the three kids after the landlord asked them to conduct a welfare check after not receiving rent payments.
Bouchard said police are investigating why the mother abandoned her children.